


Prequel: Just Plain Maggie

by kw20742



Series: Something Like Love [1]
Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 04:48:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15429354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kw20742/pseuds/kw20742
Summary: I have taken as canon the fact that, as of September 2002, Jocelyn and Maggie were no longer in touch, as depicted in “Old Friends” in Erin Kelly’s official short story collection that accompanies Season 2. I have also adopted as part of my head canon the lovely “Moments in Time” by spilled_notes. This is a continuation of that story. And a prequel to the events depicted in the TV series.





	Prequel: Just Plain Maggie

**Author's Note:**

> I have taken as canon the fact that, as of September 2002, Jocelyn and Maggie were no longer in touch, as depicted in “Old Friends” in Erin Kelly’s official short story collection that accompanies Season 2. I have also adopted as part of my head canon the lovely “Moments in Time” by spilled_notes. This is a continuation of that story. And a prequel to the events depicted in the TV series.

_22 January 2000_

_Dear Jocelyn,_

_You’ll never know how many drafts I’ve gone through to get to this point. I am a writer, but I find myself rendered inarticulate. There are so many things I want to say, to ask._

_I don’t know what happened. I can imagine. I can guess. But I don’t know. Did I do something to put you off? I’ve perseverated over every moment, every conversation. All the old insecurities of youth have come back to me: I’m not smart enough, not sophisticated enough, not posh enough. Not attractive enough._

_Or are you afraid? Of us. Of what people would say, of what being with me would mean. For you. For your career. Are you afraid of me? I’m just plain Maggie. Who loves you. There, I’ve written it down._

_We could make it work. Together._

_I’ve called the flat. Twice. I’ve left a message with your clerk. This is the last you will hear from me. I have no interest in making myself ridiculous._

_Please talk to me. Please be in touch. Please return my calls. Please let me love you._

_M_

***

Maggie’s letter arrives on a bitterly cold, grey day at the end of the first January of the new millennium. Jocelyn would have instantly recognized the handwriting even if the return address hadn’t been sticking up and out from the small stack of bills, advertisements, and other junk in her letterbox.

She doesn’t open it. She can’t. But she can’t quite bring herself to throw it away, either. So she brings it up to the empty flat with her and, before even taking off her coat and shoes, grabs a plastic bag from the kitchen and heads for her bedroom. In one sweeping, decisive move, she extracts Maggie’s scarf from under her pillow, tucks the unopened letter carefully into the folds of soft green and blue wool, wraps both in the plastic bag, and lays the small package in the antique trunk at the foot of her bed.

Nestled into a collection of her life’s artifacts that includes her B.A. from Oxford, a couple of family photo albums, the well-worn and lovingly inscribed copies of her professor-father’s books, birthday cards from her mum dating back decades, and a picture of her smiling fifteen year-old self holding her beloved childhood cat, Maggie’s letter and scarf are now among Jocelyn’s most treasured possessions, her precious memories. But that’s all they can ever be. She closes the trunk. Compartments. 

Jocelyn wasn’t ready then to understand that this moment marked a funeral for her heart. She did what she thought she had to do. To survive.


End file.
